With its changing exhibitions and a permanent collection that ranges from historic artifacts to contemporary art, the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles is a compelling place to discover the world of California’s Indigenous peoples. The Griffith Park museum, which is located on traditional Gabrielino-Tongva lands, has evolved over its 35 years from an original emphasis on the pop-culture West to a more inclusive and accurate depiction of both the region’s Native American past and the enduring presence of Indigenous cultures in today’s society.
To that end, the museum and the Gabrielino-Tongva reached a formal Memorandum of Understanding to promote collaborative efforts, including educational programs and exhibitions, as well as the protection of tribal items in the museum’s collection.
When the agreement was finalized, Tongva tribal archaeologist and educator Desiree Martinez said, “This is the first time a Los Angeles museum has acknowledged they are on Gabrielino-Tongva lands and are committed to working with our community experts to create programming that honors our past and present.”
The Autry has also worked with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which helped support the development of a website section dedicated to repatriation and public programs at the museum. The San Manuel Band granted more than $400,000 to the Autry in 2018 and tribal chairwoman Lynn Valbuena said in a statement, “Our partnership with the Autry Museum of the American West will increase Indigenous peoples’ access, connections, and stewardship of their ancestors and material culture. It is our hope that not only our tribal community, but many others across California, will benefit from the healing and joy that such interactions with our ancestors can bring.”
Housed in the 100,000-square-foot, $32-million Resources Center, the museum’s inventory encompasses 600,000 objects, including such rarities as the logbook from the 1969 Native American takeover of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay and more than 10,000 Native ceramics. It’s the country’s second-largest Indigenous collection behind the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.
The collection includes many items from the historic Southwest Museum of the American Indian, with which the Autry merged in 2003. Pieces are stored and handled following tribal protocols and, according to a 2022 article in the Los Angeles Times, the Autry will only put items on display after first consulting with representatives of the appropriate tribe.
Experiencing Native California at the Autry
The exhibit Human Nature tells the story of Native Californians and the tribes’ traditional ecological knowledge by focusing on four main subject areas: Salmon, Fire, the Desert, and Plants as Food and Medicine. Through evocative quotations by prominent tribal members (including Cahuilla artist Gerald Clarke), videos, photography, and displays of Indigenous crafts, the exhibit spotlights the inseparable connection between California’s native cultures and the environment.
The diverse range of California’s basketmaking tradition, from the desert to the coast, is on display, thanks to such works as a 1920 Cahuilla basket with a rattlesnake design and a Pomo basket adorned by quail plumes, clam shell discs, and beads. There’s also a Yurok dugout redwood canoe crafted in 1987 by master carver Axel Lindgren and a section on Indigenous boatmaking in California.
While Griffith Park is home to the Autry, as well as such institutions as Griffith Observatory and the Los Angeles Zoo, the museum’s Investigating Griffith Park exhibit goes beyond the park’s cultural role to also examine this urban oasis as a natural landscape and part of the Gabrielino-Tongva world. And the museum’s California Continued Ethnobotanical Garden is a place to reconnect with nature and learn about the native plant species that California’s Indigenous people have used in their daily lives for thousands of years.
Through May 2024, the exhibit Sherman Indian School: 100+ Years of Education and Resilience looks at the complex legacy of this federal boarding school that opened in Riverside in 1901. Young people from tribes across the country were sent to the Sherman Indian School for education and vocational training. By 1926, 86 percent of Native American children were in boarding schools but of the original 25, today’s Sherman Indian High School is one of only four off-reservation boarding schools still operating.
Special Events
In June, the American Indian Arts Marketplace is where you’ll find works by leading traditional and contemporary Native American craftspeople and artists. The marketplace also features live dance and musical performances, plus screenings of Indigenous movies from the Sundance Film Festival. Even if you can’t attend the marketplace, throughout the year the Autry’s museum store has an outstanding assortment of authentic Native American crafts.
The museum’s Native Voices theater company is dedicated to producing and developing works by Indigenous writers and is the only Actors’ Equity company of its kind in the country. Native Voices events include a festival of new plays, as well as a short play festival in spring and one dedicated to young native playwrights.